Organic semiconductors are of great interest for a variety of applications involving low-cost electronics. It is believed that organics can be synthesized to incorporate the necessary electronic properties for a wide variety of devices, and also can be constructed to allow low-cost, reel-to-reel processing that is not currently possible for crystalline silicon microelectronics.
One area of concern in organic electronic devices is the quality of the interface formed between the organic semiconductor and another device layer. Prior work on the interface between the semiconductor and the gate dielectric has included using a silazane or silane coupling agents on silicon oxide surfaces. Silane coupling agents also require complex deposition processes.
EP 1041652 A2 describes the use of several surface treatments to enhance the crystalline domain size of solution-cast oligothiophenes on SiOx for thin film transistors (TFTs), although measured charge carrier mobility values were generally lower than the untreated controls. Other work involving surface treatments in TFTs involved poly(vinyl alcohol) layers, which may be relatively thick. In rare instances, previous work has shown minor improvements in mobility. The predominant effects shown in the previous work have been no improvement and/or detrimental effects on mobility, without regard for other important aspects of device performance.